


When Sound Rebounds

by LeoFusion



Category: RWBY
Genre: Action/Adventure, Gen, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-02
Updated: 2018-03-03
Packaged: 2019-03-26 05:10:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13850775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeoFusion/pseuds/LeoFusion
Summary: 200 years before the events of RWBY. Team ECHO a group of young teenagers seek revenge after their village is burnt to ashes by four mysterious villains. In this world there are more stakes, Faunus yet to be equal, semblances stronger, but at a crippling price. And weapons that lack the ability of transformation, but also, theres a familiar face, to the perceptive.





	1. Chapter 1: Prin Archi

  **Chapter 1:**

 

**Prin Archi**

 

Ignited by a spark, ashes fall from their fire as if each piece of ash was guided by a hope that they would one day reach the ground and return to their blaze of oblivion, but no matter how this procedure is carried out, it will not be an Infinite cycle as for all things, they must come to an end; every flame is extinguished.

From the shadow a figure jumps onto the tiles of a village roof, wearing a cloak in the darkness of a barely moonlit night, their whole body is covered except their face where their features are fully visible, their cheek bones are set high, their face is slim and petite, as they run across the rooftops an ember calmly floats by the cheek of the figure, the bright ember sparked a flash in their mind as they closed their light green eyes.

A pair of green eyes awaken to a voice emanating from the left of them "BOOM! Fire was everywhere, it was awesome, I never really realised that hunting was that much fun" the voice trailed off as the eyes focused on the world around them.  
Two girls walked along a dirt road shoulder to shoulder, the girl who walked on the left possessed noticeable long pink hair that barely reaches beyond her shoulder blades and a fringe that straightens along her eyebrows, her face seems to be spacing out and oblivious to the shorter girl chattering nonsense beside her.  
The shorter girl shouted "Cele!?" Waking Celestine from her day dream.  
"Yes?" Celestine asked looking down onto the shorter girl.  
"Want to race?" The girl proposed with a smug expression on her face.  
"N-" before Celestine could respond, the girl had taken off kicking dirt up in the air as she ran. Celestine had no choice but to run after her and catch up.

The two girls combated for first place with Celestine easily catching up to the other girls short legs "Ele! Stop!" Celestine shouted out to the girl through deep breaths, she laughed off the words and continued running. Soon, small wooden houses could be seen in the distance.  
"Almost there, you may want to speed up if you want to cat-" the girl was interrupted by Celestine sprinting past, Celestine even let out a sly smirk as she passed, but the girl just laughed again and reached into her pocket, she pulled out a small rock and giggled, Celestine's eyes glowed pink as her expression turned serious. The girl threw the stone laughing while she did it, but Celestine easily dodged it and caught it in her hand just as it passed her chest. Instead of returning the stone to its sender she dropped it on the ground and focused on the houses, now practically in front of her. Once the girls reached the houses, their race came to an end with Celestine as the victor.  
"That was dirty Elenora" Celestine said exhausted and gasping for breath.  
"It would be boring without a twist" the girl replied trying to catch her breath at the same pace as Celestine.  
"Have you slowed down Ele?" Cele asked the girl almost sarcastically.  
"Yeah well maybe if your power wasn't so unfair, I might have had a chance" Elenora retorted bringing her breath to a standstill.  
"Well what about yours?" Celestine asked with a curious tone.  
"You know I don't have one yet" Elenora replied waiving her arms aimlessly.  
"what about your aura?" Celestine asked.  
"none of that stuff; I don't practice it really, if I unlocked my power or aura then I feel as if I would change as a person, and I just want to stay as me, not change into someone or something else" Elenoras reply put a smile onto Celestines face.  
"I'm still the same person" she said with reassuring words.  
Elenora slightly smiled "yeah, one of a few"  
Celestine walker over to Elenora and placed a hand on her shoulder, Elenora looks up into Celestine's eyes.  
"Ready to make your weapon?" She said through a subtle sigh.  
Elenora met Celestine with a smile "of course" Celestine released her clutch on Elenora's shoulder.  
"have you thought about what you're going to build?" Celestine asked. Elenora replied with a nod of her head.

The two girls made their way into the town centre of the villages of Skoni which homes themselves and hundreds of other people, the villages are rather cut off from the outside world much like its inhabitants, this however does not gain them immunity from the soulless creatures of darkness that surround them everyday, creatures that the villagers have named Lyko, although known to the rest of Remnant as Grimm, Skoni does not share the luxury of communication, nobody knows of their existence much like they know of nobody else's.

The four villages of Skoni houses a centre town which is rather small and cosy with a town square full of friendly merchants that sell wares from their local travels, the buildings surrounding the square are quite small with some of them reaching as high as two stories, however the town centre is where the rich swarm while the poor are tossed aside into three smaller villages that surround the town centre, all are rural and the ground between them covers across one hundred miles the forest and mountains surrounding the villages and cloaking them from the outside world are also housed to multiple hunters that provide food and other types of material for the villages, however past all of the trees and hunters lies an impenetrable wall of Grimm that if attempted to be cleared would lead to the demise of the villages and valley they lie within, to combat this dark fate, a line of defence was organised in the villages, although it is a local service, if a Grimm wonders to close; kill it. Never do the humans pick the fight. The protectors are named Nyk and they are known as hero's to the rich and poor alike, their morals are always to protect never attack; unless necessary.

Elenora stood at shoulders length with Celestine however with her blonde hair scrunched up on top of her head, she would stand Eyes length at most, Elenora and Celestine share similar facial traits, almost looking identical to one another with the difference being in eye colour and height, Eleanor's Eyes flowed a sea blue whilst Celestine's blended with the grass as a calm viridian.

Both Elenora and Celestine were in the village square alongside a crowd of other people, the merchants that are usually set up in their place are not present and instead there was a small wooden stage built up from a few large tables stacked on top of each-other, it was rather stable regardless of its tacky and unreliable looking nature, behind the stage was a tall cloth covered object that almost reached the hight of the tallest buildings in the village, on the stage was a man wearing a grin and a bowl hat covering his hair, he had thick sideburns which merged into a combed black beard that almost covered his whole face, on his torso he wore a small silver badge with a sigil of two axes crossed over a shield, the badge he wore symbolised him as the mayor and lead protector of the village.

The view was very limited where Elenora and Celestine stood but the stage could vaguely be seen through the crowd. To the right side of Elenora was a small boy jumping up and down trying to catch a glance, Elenora noticed his frantic jumping and crouched down to talk to him.  
"Do you want any help seeing?" She asked in a gentle voice, she caught the attention of the boy as he turned to her in surprise  
"No I'm good, thanks" the boy replied shaking his palms in front of her and leaning as far backwards as he could.  
"Shut up!" He then said to himself looking as if he was trying to look at himself.  
Elenora struck him a confused glance and stood back up leaving the boy with an "Okay"  
Celestine faced over to Elenora "Did that kid just tell you to 'shut up?'" She asked forcefully closing in on her personal space.  
"No, I think he was telling himself" she said with a small giggle, Celestine snickered and left Eleanora's space, resuming to staring ahead at the stage. Elenora looked back over at the boy and saw that he was gone, she quickly glanced around searching for him but he was nowhere to be seen. But she just smiled and joined Celestine.

"It is a pleasure to announce the project that I have been working on for a while now, some of you might have seen the construction of this wonderful stat... um thing, well. Some of you actually did, please no more complaints about its nose, anyway without further delay..." the Mayor standing on stage announced, relocating slightly to the left of the stage as the cover came falling from the object to reveal a smooth white statue, it couldn't be seen very well from Elenora and Celestines position even though the statue towered high.  
"We can see the stage but not the actual statue, that's annoying" Elenora expressed trying to peek over other peoples shoulders  
"It's nothing to brag about anyway" Celestine said standing back a little "let's go Ele" she ordered with her hand gesturing for her to follow.

As they left the square, Elenora caught a glimpse of the boy from earlier in the crowd, he now stood right at the back of the crowd with both of his hands behind his back and a formal smile on his face, she also managed to get a small look at the statue which left another big smile over her face.


	2. Chapter 2: Trumpet Of Concord

**Chapter 2:**

 

**Trumpet Of Concord**

 

Peace throughout the world? It would take a god to bring upon such miracles, but if a god existed, would lesser beings have manifested as angelic and demonic? There would be such a fine line between good; evil. Would there be an in-between? If a god brought upon peace, another would surly corrupt it, nothing stays good forever. Nor bad.  
The forests stretched long past the villages and in the forests lies a danger that has repented any attempt at escape, the Grimm stalk the woods searching for any semblance of negativity, and when they inevitably find it within their lifetime, they hunt; they never stop hunting, for any root of negativity will lure them and so hope is brought to the people of Skoni, for if they choose to believe in hope, then maybe, just maybe their lives could flourish and grow into a thing of beauty, of course. That's what they think through their hope, they never even knew that their foundation of hope, is built upon lies.  
A boy sat on a log surrounded by trees and the stench of death with no building or type of civilisation in sight. The boy wore a hood that covered his hair almost entirely although it allowed his small fringe of black hair to almost cover his right eye, his expressions were bland and his lips were dry, his vision was limited to only the ground as he just looked at it with a face of boredom however a gunshot ahead of him caught his attention as he looked up to check on it, before him stood a tall Beowolf it was almost as large as the trees but it lets out no sinister growls and also homed no life within its eyes, it's body was frozen, although not for long as the body came hurtling down to the dirt, upon its fall it revealed a girl standing behind it with a smirk on her face and an engraved silver revolver with several different colours on its chamber in her right hand elevated in the air complacently, as the Beowolf on the ground began to disintegrate, the girl walked around its vanishing corpse.  
"found you! Although it didn't take long, you always come here" the girl said with a warming and gentle voice.  
The girl sheathed her revolver into a small sheathe tucked away on her right leg, as the girl approached the boy he stood up to confront her with his fists clenched, he gave her an annoyed stare but soon released his fists and looked down at the ground; he fell a little short of the girls height, the girl had brunches which were incredibly long strands of snow white hair descending down to her calves and she also had dark sapphire eyes like the boy stood in front of her.  
"Oura, if you're going to keep doing this..." the girl said addressing the boy and grabbing onto his left arm "at least bring me with you next time" she continued with a sweet and reassuring voice.  
Oura looked back down at the ground and let out a small nod just before he walked out of the girls grasp and started walking into the trees surrounding them.  
The girl ran up beside Oura and noticed a small scratch on his arm that was letting out a very minute amount of blood, she grabbed hold of his arm once again .  
"seriously? Did you walk into a tree or something?" She asked with a hint of sarcasm but a whole lot of concern.  
She crouched down onto one knee and placed her hand over the scratch and started humming a short melody that caused her hair to glow an angelic white, when her tune ended and she removed her hand from the scratch it was healed with only the ripped clothing left as a temporary scar, she then brought herself to her feet.  
"Look, I know you don't speak much but, you're my brother and I need us to communicate well" she said voicing yet more concern.  
Oura gave her a blank stare and then nodded in agreement, the girl closed her eyes in relief "thank you" she thanked. Oura then continued into the trees.  
The forest surrounding Skoni never smelt of anything easy to describe, but if I had to put a word to it, I would say death. From the treetops the forest blankets the valley with utter beauty, it's almost as if the villages defile it with their man-made structures and disgusting habits, although I can see a very bright future for the villages that can mask them with the forest, but first they must take upon a red aura and become the forest.  
Oura and the girl have taken it upon themselves to travel on a path that lead through the forest, and after a little more walking, small buildings could be seen in the distance between the trees as Oura and the girl approach the ending of the forest. As they exited the forest. The familiar sights and sounds of the village drifted towards them; the overpowering aroma of  the fertiliser on the nearby fields that grew the villages' natural supply of fruits, vegetables and even provided some meat from time to time and it filled the villages' streets with a mist of a sometimes sickening smell; meat is a rare luxury as the livestock is limited because of the Grimm blockade. The pathway lead through a small wooden village with houses that were bundled up together to give the whole village the exterior appearance of a small but crooked circle, the path leading around the village was much like a snake, it coiled all around the village houses making the streets a maze to navigate. Although small, the many bends of the village can get you lost in an instant.  
While the two still walked along the path silent as night they catch a glimpse of an energetic girl with short chestnut hair and a small ponytail waving over to them from a far off building that shares the same appearance as almost every other building surrounding it, the buildings are made from cheap looking dark oak wooden logs and look very tacky and poor, the only difference each house shared would be if it contained a porch or not, they are all extremely small and could only fit a family of four in them at the most this means that although the appearance of the village maybe be small itself, the population is far from it, however the streets are not riddled with other people, its almost seems deserted, with only a few odd people wondering the streets. The girl still waving began a small jog up to them making the two stop in their tracks to let her reach them although she was slow, she still managed to close the gap rather quickly. Once she finally reached the two she grabbed onto Ouras sister to keep her balance while trying to gain her breath back.  
"what do you want?" She asked the barely breathing girl, after the girl regained her breath she confronted the other girl.  
"Harmonia" The girl named Ouras sister "I have discovered my ability!" The girl cried out with joy and an unbreakable smile lighting up her whole face.  
"Okay?" Harmonia said dragging out the word in confusion "what is it Silvia?" She asked with a weak tone making her sound nicer than reality.  
"I can make people fall asleep with my mind!" Silvia joyfully claimed with a sparkle shining through her eyes.  
"I don't believe you" Harmonia stated crossing her arms with denial.  
Silvia noticed a man walking by the group at just the right time innocently and so she focused on him with her eyes with an amusingly serious face, after a good few seconds of constant staring and concentration the man toppled over onto the dirt asleep.  
"Wow that's actually really cool and useful" Harmonia remarked surprised "so what's the side effect to it?" She asked turning to Silvia.  
Harmonia's gaze was met with Silvia yawning and barely being able to keep her eyes open "well. Goodnight" Silvia said closing her eyes with a final yawn and falling into Harmonia's hands.  
"Not so useful now" Harmonia said sarcastically through her struggle to hold up Silvia's body weight.  
Oura kept the same expressionless and bored face throughout the whole ordeal, Harmonia's attempts at lifting her up into both of her hands were in vain as she didn't have the strength for such a task, and neither did Oura, she thought of asking Oura for help however came to the realisation that asking for him to hold Silvia's feet up to help her carry Silvia wasn't such a great idea.  
Instead Harmonia grabbed Silvia by the legs and dragged her onto a nearby porch.  
"How long do you think she'll be asleep?" Harmonia asked Oura taking a seat next to the snoring Silvia.  
Oura of course gave her more silence as an answer, however he looked behind him at the man who Silvia had made snooze on the ground in the mud, but a small amount of people had crowded around him since then with a noticeable pair standing on the outskirts of the tiny crowd of around four people not including them, there was a pair of two girls with noticeable height differences and hair differences, one had pink hair that fell a small amount beyond her shoulders whilst the other had blonde hair scrunched up ontop of her head into a bun, the blonde girl was pointing and laughing at the man uncontrollably with one hand over her mouth attempting to muffle the laughs, while the pink haired girl stood looking over the man in confusion.  
"He'll be fine" Harmonia declared with a quick shrug of her shoulders.


	3. Chapter 3: Golden Digits

**Chapter 3:**

 

**Golden Digits**

 

Diamonds or gold? Which do you prefer? Gold is strong. Diamond is sharp. Light shines off of gold. Light shines through diamond. Diamond has glass. Gold has silver. Glass shatters. Silver melts. Diamond shatters, gold melts.  
"Miss Gemini, was it?" The Mayor who gave the awkward speech on the tacky stage asked a woman sitting on the opposite end of his wide mahogany desk.  
"Yes, it is Gemini" the woman confirmed with a vibrant smile. She wore an equally vibrant dress of bright green, dotted over with large white spots. Her hair was chestnut and straight and it flowed down her neck like a river until it reached her spine to which it then jumped over her shoulders and rained down like a waterfall over her chest. Her eyes were the blue that her river of hair could have adopted, and her face was slim and cute. The woman was a sight for sore eyes.  
The Mayor lazed back in his chair and studied Gemini's features. "So what brings you here, Miss?" The Mayor asked.  
"A friend of mine told me to come here to make a request of you." she smiled out her reply in an almost-menacing manor "He's kinda "intense" she leaned in to whisper.  
"What is this request?" The Mayor asked further, leaning forward onto the desk.  
"Just a list of every one of your "protectors". I think you call them Nyk or somethin'" Gemini answered with a coy grin.  
"What could you possibly want with something like that?" The Mayor warily asked.  
The woman struck him a wolfish smile and glanced over at the picture frame that stood up on his desk. She reached over and picked up the frame to peek at the picture. The woman kept her smile which almost evolved into a chuckle. "This is the statue man" she proclaimed, placing the picture back on the desk facing down.  
"Yes it is, but that's not important" The Mayor said pressingly, picking up the photo frame and putting it back on its stand. "Why do you need a full list of all our protectors? You do realise that information is confidential and delicate?" He asked tipping the brim of his black bowler hat down casting a shadow over his eyes.  
Gemini lost her happy expression and forced on a sad replacement looking down onto the floor.  
"If you're not here for anything else then I'm sorry, but you have to leave." The Mayor pressed.  
The woman nodded with a forced smile. She picked herself up off her seat and extended her arm out for a formal handshake, The Mayor of course obliged. The two shook hands quick and firmly. When the Mayor tried to pull his hand from Gemini's she wouldn't let him go. The Mayor looked up to see a smile giggling down to him demonically. He felt Gemini's hand heat up. Soon his hand felt as if it would melt from his arm, his skin ripped from his bones. The room was filled with both screams and giggles, each contesting for the echo of the room. When her hand reached the boiling point, he could see a shimmer form over his hand.  
Gemini released his hand and threw it out into the air. The Mayors hand fell to the ground with a loud thud. The Mayor looked at his hand to see it to be completely frozen in solid gold. When he turned his body too look at Gemini with drops of sweat falling from his head, he saw her crouched over him with an immovable smile on her face, it was as if she took pleasure from the torture she just provided.  
"List, please." she said with a cheerful and energetic voice.  
Once more the trees of the forest covered the landscape in green and brown, mostly green. Harmonia and her brother Oura strode through the forest like less subtle hunters, their objective unknown. There was no destination. Just a lovely stroll through the woods to clear their heads from all the commotion of the civilisation that they left behind for the time being. Upon their walk, they found a small field cut out in the middle of the forest. The grass a lime green and the occasional poppy sprouted throughout. There were also tree stumps dotted around the field, a possible sign of some form of deforestation maybe? In the middle of the field sat on a stump a short girl. She had sweat dripping from her forehead and her hands clenched around the stump in impatience. Standing before the girl, with arms on her hips looking just as impatient, was another slightly taller girl with pink hair that came down to her shoulders and green eyes merged with a minute amount of hazel brown. The voices of the two girls could be heard from where Harmonia and Oura were standing, in the tree line out of view from the girls. The voices were muffled but the tone of them certainly was not. The pink haired girl seemed calmer but deeper and the shorter blonde girl was more high and impatient.  
Harmonia's first instinct was to creep up on the two girls to see what they was doing of course, determining whether they were friend or foe was her first goal. Harmonia noticed that the two didn't have any weapons and so their threat was minimal with the possibility of their semblances being their only attack. She still proceeded with caution, until she heard a plea from the smaller girl sitting on the stump.  
"I can't do it, I can't concentrate enough!" the girl cried up to the pink haired girl who looked at her like a hawk.  
"You're not even trying! Now close your eyes and concentrate." the taller girl said, crouching down to the stump's level fixated on the possibility that this time she might finally activate her aura.  
The short girl's eyes lightened up as much as her face "I...I...I can't do it!" she retorted with a defeated and annoyed voice.  
The tall girl shrivelled up her face "Then try-"  
"Try focusing on your body" Harmonia interrupted the pink haired girl, picking her up from her crouch in surprise "Focus on your body and your soul. Your aura is your shield, it'll protect you and heighten your senses, but you must be willing to deepen your concentration and relax." she added walking up to the two with Oura at her tail.  
"Who are you?" The taller girl asked taking a step in front of the smaller girl on the stump.  
"Harmonia. This is Oura, I saw that you were doing a little aura practicing and thought I could help" Harmonia replied with a warm smile emerging on her face.  
"And what if we attacked you?" The tall girl asked again stepping to the side again.  
"Well you have no weapons on you, she can't even activate her aura and..." Harmonia finished off her explanation with a quick gesture down to her belt which sheathed dual silver revolvers, the left revolver with a white handle and the right with a black handle.  
"Fair enough..." the taller girl admitted almost chuckling on her words "I'm Celestine and she's Elenora" she finished gesturing down to Elenora sitting on the tree stump.  
"Just call me Ele and her Cele for short, though." Elenora added full with ripe energy.  
"So. Ele. Do you remember what I said?" Harmonia asked slowly on approach to her.  
"Something about my soul and more concentration?" Elenora responded vaguely.  
Harmonia crouched down in front of Elenora "Close your eyes and concentrate on your senses." she calmingly instructed.  
Eleanora followed the instruction, closing her eyes and relaxing her body in an attempt to concentrate more.  
"Now search within yourself for a pulse, follow that pulse towards your soul. When you find it, project it outwards, it's like flicking a switch." Harmonia detailed as much as she could.  
Elenora looked within herself and she found that pulse. It was slow, slower than any human pulse that beats to our hearts. As she followed the pulse inside, it seemed to slow down gradually. Once she found her soul, it was like an orb floating within an oblivion slowly merging around and around and around, as if time had completely stopped for it. When she looked closer, she found that switch and without hesitation, she flicked it.  
A light blue aura surrounded her body from head to toe leaving only a smile of relief on her face and a smile of joy on Harmonia's and Celestine's.  
"Next step is finding out what power you have." Celestine said placing a friendly hand on Elenora's shoulder.  
"I wish you the best of luck with that!" Harmonia smiled off and began a walk back to the tree line.  
"Wait!" Celestine shouted back to her stopping her within her tracks "Thank you!"  
"You're welco-" Harmonia was interrupted by a woman's scream coming from the nearby village, and a smell of smoke drifting between the trees of the forest.


	4. Chapter 4: Brazier Of Oblivion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright. Now that character introductions are out of the way, the story can finally begin!

Ignited by a flare of hope, the brazier of oblivion flourished before them, the flames dancing to the eternal wailing of the wind. Each flames dance sprouted a spirit of beauty, but it wept tears. The tears blew as frail ash, their home now raided from the cinders that allowed the dance to commence, the cinders that ate the wind. The cinders that crackle to the smoke that rose to the heavens and yonder over the screams of purity. The dance was a purge, a purge of the cinder that foundered the brazier. The flames were a coup, the smoke a betrayal, the ash spilled blood. And the cinders, a hope.  
The brazier was a village. A village through the mountains, through the forest and into a valley. The mountains made the valley like a catacomb, like a tomb. Once a vacant tomb, now an occupied one. The Village was ablaze like a beacon, the fire dancing within the streets. The ash falling from the sky like a gentle snowfall.  
The four Elenora, Celestine, Harmonia and Oura stood in line watching over the chaos from a hill just outside the village. The lush forest was behind them painting a picture of a welcoming and calm darkness in the evening suns golden hour. But before them was buildings alight with fire choreographing a dance throughout the streets.  
All four of them shared one trait in this moment. Fear. A fear that they will never see their family again, a fear that the last day of their life stares back at them with a shadow of death. The shock on their faces were not enough to represent what emotions clashed within them, what expressions they wanted to cry out. None of them muttered a word, they shared a single mindset, it was like they knew each others thoughts. Their hesitation on the hilltop was broken when Celestine lead a charge into the the village.  
"I'll get my sniper, Ele you check on your family. And you two, do whatever you can." Celestine shouted to everyone as they ran down the hill in perfect sync with one another.  
Harmonia nodded to Celestine and broke of from their charge with Oura once again following her at her tail.  
At the bottom of the hill was a field of tall green grass that always had the strange aroma of being freshly cut however that sweet smell is now disregarded and replaced with a suffocating smell of smoke, the only smell that now manifested through the village, and all around it.  
Celestine looked down the straight and narrow street with an increased shock. Her feelings were playing tug of war: Fear or courage?  
Elenora has followed Celestine to the streets opening, she stood beside her as the flames engulfed the buildings either side of the street. Both of the girls gazed into the underworld.  
"Someone did this." Celestine said relieving her breath as much as she could "someone did this. But for what reason?!" She asked her question without expecting an answer. But it was not rhetorical.

"That doesn't matter. We need to help people." Elenora reassured Celestine.  
Celestine nodded in agreement "I'll get my sniper. You try and save as many as you can. I'll come find you as soon as I can"  
Elenora returned a nod and ran off down the street with motivation lighting her eyes and fear covering her face. Celestine took an alley that hid between two buildings just a little way up the street. The alley was untouched by the fire but loomed with smoke.  
Harmonia and Oura has found themselves outside of a street that flowed down to the village square. The buildings either side of this street was completely untouched by the fire, in fact, there was no type of fire blooming down the street, no lamps or anything. It was smothered in darkness.  
Then a yellow light shot up into the sky from the village square, it reached almost into the clouds but not out of view. It levitated in place, it did not fall. But it was no longer rising.  
Harmonia hesitated but ultimately decided to peruse the flare of yellow light, so she ran down the street as fast as she could, she pointed to an alley for Oura to hide, which he obediently did.  
Elenora had searched for people everywhere among the village that was not torched in flames. But her search was in vain, nobody was around to find nor to help. Until she returned to the field that lead her into the village, and she saw a woman dancing in the field, letting each individual strand of grass flow seamlessly through her fingers. Her dance was a skip between her feet. Up and down, up and down, up and down. Her dance was like a flame.  
The woman had already noticed Elenora spectating on the dance. She chuckled as she skipped around in circles waiting for Elenora to approach closer.  
Closer and closer. The closer she got, the slower the woman's skip became. The clearer her figure was, she had a dress of green and hair like a river.  
The woman brought her dance to a halt and looked into the sky "Can you see the stars?" Gemini asked a speechless Elenora.  
"There are none." Elenora answered with confidence that surprised even herself.  
"Of course there are. They are the eyes of the big black. They see you, you see them." Gemini riddled to Elenora who was too confused to express.  
"Did you do this?" Elenora asked the woman with the only words that lingered within her mind.  
"Did I shatter your village like the moon? Did I steal all the dwelling souls? Did I fill the air with an everlasting smoke? No, I did not." Gemini's answer jumped Elenora back a step.  
"Who did?" She asked with a lust for answers.  
"She who asketh the question, knows the answer." The woman's answer was unclear to Elenora.  
But what was clear to Elenora was that another voice was intertwined with Gemini's in her mind. Her perspective on the world was almost third-person but realistic.  
"Little girl. Your mind is tainted. Your thoughts are clouded. Your sight is scarred. And your life- your life is worthless." Gemini's focus had moved onto Elenora instead of the smoke which covered the dark nights sky.  
The woman crouched into the grass and brought herself back to her feet with a wooden stick with a spearhead on the end of it. "Little girl, the fires' purge dances with the night. Join in, and dance" As she spoke her words, the spear in her hand merged into gold and her eyes fixated themselves on Elenora with a violent glare.  
It became increasingly obvious to Elenora that the woman was preparing to pounce and attack her.  
Celestine found a way onto the rooftops of the village. She darted across the roofs avoiding the holes which the fire had caused in them. She jumped over from roof to roof with immense speed and athleticism, she was however hooded in a black cloak, her body nor her head could be seen. Only her face was open to the world.  
The petals of embers falling from the sky passed her face igniting memories in her mind. It was as if each floating ember carried with it Celestine's whole life. Her past, and her future.  
Attached to her cloak on her back was a long high-calibre, semi-automatic sniper rifle. The rifle looked heavy but it seemed like a feather to Celestine as she prepared to jump onto the next roof, and the roof before that.  
Just before she encountered the end of the pathway of rooftops, she pulled her sniper from her back and leapt from the last roof. Just before she hit the ground she fired a shot of gravity dust down onto the ground which propelled her upwards a small amount giving her enough height for a graceful and smooth landing.  
Before Celestine stood a girl who was around Celestines height, she had chestnut hair wrapped into a pony tail. She had her back to Celestine and did not notice her dropping down behind her.  
"They're gone- Everyone- They're gone." The girl said frantically looking around the street.  
"Who are gone?" Celestine asked the muttering girl.  
The girl screamed and fell onto the floor in fright. "Go away!" The girl shrieked frantically feeling around the floor with her hands  
Celestine threw aside her sniper and put her hands up to show the girl her empty palms. "I want to help" She said mustering up the most comforting voice she could. Celestine slowly walked closer to the girl with her palms still in the air.  
The girl calmed her breathing "Why are you still here?" She asked with her voice still shaken from fear.  
Celestine didn't know how to reply so she inprovised to the best of her ability "I- I don't know." When Celestine reached the girl she put her hand out.  
The girl took Celestines hand and Celestine pulled her up from the ground "everyone is gone" she repeated looking straight into Celestines eyes. Sending a shiver down her spine.  
"I have to find my friend. But if you stay close I'll protect you." Celestine said picking up her rifle. She then took the girl by the hand and ran off down the street.  
"Protect me from what?" The girl asked under her breath, trying to keep up with Celestine.  
Harmonia neared the end of the street, but before she could run into the village square she saw a crowd of people. People she knew as protectors. Instead of confronting the protectors she hid in the shadows of a nearby building which oversaw the whole square. The protectors were huddled in a semi-circle and they all had their weapons drawn. There must have been around 20 protectors there.  
"Why do this?" One Of The protectors cried out.  
"My reasons are far beyond your understanding" a mans voice said from within the semi-circle of Nyk.  
"Our understanding is your bloodshed" a woman yelled out.  
"Do you see any blood?" The voice asked with the words echoing through the empty and darkened streets.  
"Then you took our people. Where are-"  
The voice of another man was interrupted by the sounds of footsteps. The footsteps were quickly followed by the sound of an arrow being shot from a bow. Then followed, a silence.  
The circle split up in a surprise and gave Harmonia a view into the circle. What she saw was two men, one laid upon the floor lifeless, the other stood upon him covered in the darkness of night. But there was no sign of the bow that was shot.  
Quickly after, more followed the footsteps, running at the man with their weapons held high.  
Each attack from the protectors were dodged and blocked with incredible ease and speed. The crowd of people swarmed over the man and the sounds of swords clashing and yells of strength was the only thing that could be heard.  
The man jumped up and over the crowd avoiding all of their attacks effortlessly.  
"You're all pathetic. Scorpio!" He yelled out into the sky.  
The protectors all ran at the man screaming their battle cries. The man was untouched by their attempt at intimidation.  
Before they could clash with the man again, a woman dropped from the sky in front of them, stopping their offensive it its tracks.  
The woman crouched down before them on the streets, she had long hair black hair with purple streaks, covering over her face and rolling onto the ground. The sight of his mysterious woman put more fear into the 20 grand protectors than they could ever put into any villain.  
The woman looked up from the ground still in her crouch, her hair parted from her face. And what the men and woman before her saw was death staring them straight into their souls and ripping them apart.  
"Stop being dramatic." The equally mysterious man beside her ordered with a voice that almost encouraged him to facepalm.  
The bodies of every Nyk felt lighter a second after the man spoke those words. Light and lighter. Lighter and lighter. Eventually they were as light as a feather. Their bodies began to levitate up into the air helplessly.  
"Don't over-do it. They can't escape now." the man said looking up to see the yellow light up above them in the sky begin a silent and majestic dive to the ground.  
"Are the Grimm coming" the man asked the woman who seemed to be struggling and slightly grunting on the ground.  
"Yes" she growled to him with a strain in her breath.  
In an instant the yellow flare smashed into the ground and erupted an inaudible golden blast that trapped itself within the whole village square. The blast made no sound until the golden orb of fire had reached above the rooftops of the buildings around it. The explosion the emitted a deafening sound that scattered the birds from the trees, conjured it's own wind and created light and heat that radiated like the sun.  
As the light faded and the darkness once more consumed the streets, she saw not a graveyard before her, not a tomb. But nothing. The village square was left as if nothing had touched it. She saw this opportunity to escape the shadows and run off down the street.  
"Oura!" Harmonia called out to Oura as he crossed over the street "We have to go find the others" she said regaining her breath a small amount.  
Gemini had Elenora pinned to the ground with her golden spear aiming above Elenora's chest ready to strike down and pierce her heart, as she laughed maniacally.  
"Little girl. Young and foolish. Too weak to fight for the strong, to young to learn from the wise." Gemini raised her spear, but before she could strike.  
"Elenora!" Celestine shouted from the street beyond the field.  
The golden eruption manifested once more for the marvel of Gemini's eyes. Elenora had closed her eyes ready to accept her fate. However the explosion had shortened out, the bang was not produced.  
Elenora opened her eyes to see time frozen solid, Gemini's spear inches away from her chest, the explosion emerging over the building, sparks mid float through the air accompanied by a family of ash and embers. The world had come to a stand still, everything stopped. Except Elenora. As she looked around in disbelief she remembered the spear about to pieces her heart and crawled backwards out from harms way.  
When she brought herself to her feet she had more beauty to look at, although she was emotionally conflicted upon what she saw around her. Sound stopped, time stopped. She looked back over at Celestine who had called her name and saw her aiming down the sight of the sniper, the dust bullets already in mid flight, although it was also frozen in time alongside everything else.  
She turned to face Gemini, Gemini had a face of her own that was filled with an insane determination. Elenora gazing came to close when her blue aura flickered and she realised what came next.  
Time around her resumes like normal, Gemini's spear entered the ground from which Elenora recently laid, the bullet travelling towards Elenora's back at a slow velocity and Gemini's realisation of the girl standing before her.  
"The strong, fight for them themselves." Elenora cried into Gemini's face as loud as she could. She then instantly crouched down as far as she could and placed her hands over her ear as Celestine's gravity dust bullet flew over Elenora's head and hit Gemini in the stomach with full force propelling Gemini into the air and throwing her 50 meters backwards. She landed in the grass with her golden aura flickering on and off.  
Within an instant Celestine came running to Elenora's aid with the other girl at her side. But when she was only half the way to Elenora she could see Gemini picking herself up off the ground with her spear clutched in her hand with a vengeance. The crazed woman brought the spear above her head looking as if she was ready to throw it at the unsuspecting Elenora as her back was turned.  
"No!" Celestine shouted out with her hand out as if it was trying to hold onto Elenora's from the opposite end of the field.  
Gemini almost threw the spear but her eyes closed up and her spear fell into the grass before she had the chance. Her body weakened and soon plunged into the grass alongside her spear.  
Celestine looked behind her to see the girl that was by her side also growing tired and waddling on her feet barely awake "thank you" she said smiling at the girl as she too feel onto the ground asleep.  
Celestine pushed her focus onto Elenora once again and began her run towards her with now Elenora joining in the run as they both ran towards eachother.  
Suddenly mid-run, smoke blasted across the field, smoke that was thicker than the smoke produced by the fire eating at the streets behind them. The smoke made Elenora and Celestine cough as they swished through the thin air with their hands trying to create air pockets. The smoke faded quickly and the two girls could once again see each-other. Instead on pursuing another run they looked around at their surrounding. Nothing seems to have changed, nothing. Until they both looked at where Gemini once laid in her slumber. They saw that the woman had vanished leaving only her spear of gold behind.  
Elenora looked at the flattened grass from where Gemini slept in confusion. But before she could do much about it, Celestine took her by her hand and ran through the patch of flat grass, as they both ran over it, Elenora had enough time to reach down and pick up the spear without stopping their run.  
They then ran up the side of the hill and entered the forest just beyond it. And luckily Harmonia just arrived at the end of the street that overlooked the field, her timing was just opportune for her too watch Celestine and Elenora enter into the tree-line of the forest..  
"Come on Oura!" she shouted running off into the field.  
Little did they know that this whole debacle of running had attracted a fifth viewer watching Harmonia and Oura run across the field in the shadows.


	5. Chapter 5: Moondance

**Chapter 5:**

 

**Moondance**

 

Two brown eyes awoke as if from a bad dream, the dream still vivid in their mind as  sweat dripped down their forehead leaving behind their sweat dampened black hair. The eyes searched around them as if trying to search for something they would recognise, they followed the sound of squeaking metal and the crackles of burning wood coming from a small log fire contained within a circle of stones, the smoke from the fire rose into a willow, the narrow leaves of the willow fell onto the ground creating thin walls around the fire like and igloo.  
Just past the fire was the metal making an irksome squeak, it was a woman rotating a dead rat attached to a thin metal stick over a smaller fire.  
"I made you some soup, just in case I burnt this one again." the woman said behind her to a man who was just picking himself up from a sleeping bag, the mans black hair was damp from sweat, the sweat also running down his forehead and his wet shirt stuck to his skin.  
The woman sat ahead of him cooking the rat which created a surprisingly nice smell of burning meat, at the side of his sleeping bag was a small roughly opened aluminium can with a brown looking sludge in it and steam protruding from it, a mushroom popped up from the brown liquid and the man made a disgusted face and looked away trying to ignore it.  
"Why did you make it first?" The man asked with a sarcastic grin, picking up the with his thump and middle finger.  
"Well somehow I knew that I would mess this up, so it saved me some time." The woman gestured her hand, lazily pointing at the rat and then forgot about it instantly twisting her body around sitting cross legged, to face the man with a devilish smile and chuckle.  
Her hair as black as the man sat in front of her and long enough to extend only a couple of inches under her shoulders, her eyes a dark purple and fixated on the man ahead of her with a childish gaze.  
"What's in the soup?" He asked with an audible gulp.  
"Mushrooms." She answered in a dull and irritated voice.  
"Okay, but wh-" the woman shushed the man with her finger and smiled.  
"Corvum, we both know that food isn't important right now."  
"Then what is?" Corvum asked her as another drop of sweat ran down from his head.  
"You was tossing and turning in your sleep, do you want to talk about it?" The woman asked grabbing onto Corvum's hot and sweaty hand. Corvum shook his head and brought his hand out from the woman's weak grip.  
"Okay look, I have a... Ritual to attend, if you want to talk about it later then just ask, but until then, I guess you'll just draw some more in your book." The woman picked herself up from the ground and parted the leaves of the willow.  
When the woman left into the forest outside of the willow, Corvum turned to a book on the ground next to his sleeping bag, it was in pristine condition, the cover smooth, and it even had that new book smell. The cover was a crimson red with a hardened brown spine and a golden trim. Corvum picked up the book and opened it to reveal various pictures which he drew, one page was a monkey eating a banana in the treetops as a total eclipse cloaked over the sun, and a small black cat at the bottom of the tree trunk, clawing at the bark as if desperate for something within or atop the tree. And On the next page was an incomplete pencil sketch of an Angel, with only her left wing complete and half of her white gown, half a halo above her head and holy white hair and smooth foot that looked so soft it could be buoyant on water. The whole left side of her body was complete and full, but her right side, nothing. It was blank.  
Corvum stared at the page as if he was stuck in some type of trance. After some time of him staring at the page thinking to himself, he finally nodded to himself and closed the book, placing it back on the ground next to his sleeping bag.  
He got up onto his feet and looked out through the leaves of the willow, he stared into a forest, the very same forest that the woman had disappeared into, a moment of hesitation surged through his body as he looked back at his book, he didn't know why but his body then acted without his brains order. He grabbed his book and a pencil laying alongside it. Parting the leaves of the willow with his hands, he began sprinting off into the forest in search of the woman ahead of him.  
He didn't need to run very far in the darkened forest with the moon full beam above the trees. Jumping over the roots of trees and hitting branches out of his path, eventually he could see light just ahead of him, so he slowed his run down to a walk then once he grew closer he shrunk to a crouch, he stuck to the shadows of the forest trying not to be spotted by the woman who sat within the dim light. Once he got close enough to get an overlook of the light, he saw candles spread out in a circle alight with a flame, and the bones of some type of animal, the bones were spread out in the shape of a small and long semi-circle. The woman crouched on her knees in front of the bones with her hands together as if she was praying.  
"I give you my soul, but only half. Take it, cherish it, and devour it. But only do these as I command, for my soul is my life, and my life is my soul. Rise before me, not as my pet, but as my guardian. Be my bow, be the arrows of my bow. Be me." The woman's chants began a bright white light that emanated from the bones, the woman disappeared in the blinding light away from Corvums vision, but around the woman a second light, this time it was blue. It sparked around the woman in the shape of a wolves head, and the blinding white light dimmed and the woman was once again in Corvums view, he saw her kneeling and looking up into the blood red eyes of a Beowolf, she looked helpless. Corvums heart started beating rapidly, he felt fear.  
Corvum instead swallowed his fear and shouted out to the woman "Roxanne!"  
She looked behind her at the voice to see Corvum running over to her "Corvum?" She muttered to herself under her breath.  
"No wait!" Roxanne shouted to Corvum throwing her palm up to him and turning her head to look at the Baowolf which was casting a shadow over her.  
Keeping her gaze on the Baowolf she reached down to the bones and picked up a bow made completely from the bones that were loosely laid on the ground just a few seconds beforehand and a string had been formed between each tip of the bow.  
"I was hoping for this to be a surprise for later" Roxanne said with an irritation in her voice as she stood to her feet, still being casted on by the shadow of the Beowolf.  
"What is that?" Corvum asked shaking his words as much as his body.  
"This is what's going to protect us while you chase after your fairytale." The woman replied as the Beowolf brought its head down and over Roxanne's shoulder, Roxanne stroked it's cracked and boney head with her hands and smiled.  
"It must never be killed, it is formed from half of my soul, and if it were to die. I would lose that part of my soul forever, and I would be all the more weaker from it, I would be as strong as a frail old woman who's barely able to stand without a walking stick." Roxanne's tone made it sound like more of an order than a lesson.  
Corvum tightened his grip on the crimson book clutched at his side in his right hand "what's his name?" his question obviously caught Roxanne off guard as her head darted over at him.  
"Uhh why don't you think of one?" Roxanne didn't expect a smile from the man.  
"Okay." Corvum smiled.  
Roxanne's eyes jumped open  
"Wait. You did put out the fire right?"  
Corvum scratches the back of his head "was I supposed to?"  
"You idiot" Roxanne retorted  
The two ran off into the trees in search of their temporary home under the willow, and when they got into a view of it, what they saw stopped them dead in their tracks standing either side of each other.  
"Idiot" she retorted again, this time flicking him on the nose with her finger.  
They both returned to see their willow engulfed in flames, although the crackling, smell and orange glow of the flames was more comforting than it should be.  
"Look on the bright side. At least we won't be eating rats or mushroom soup" Corvum joked pulling a slight smirk.  
Roxanne released a small chuckle holding her hand over her mouth trying to muffle it a little "Speak for yourself. Tomorrow we're having skunk."

**Author's Note:**

> I will update this fic as often as I can, mostly it takes me around 2 weeks to a month. But expect longer hiatuses in the future as well. Especially after every 4 chapters. I’m writing this fic to help my general writing improve. So yes. I’m not a professional. Im new to fanfiction as a whole so this is my first fic.


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